Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) external relations official Hoshyar Zebari told AFP that all those killed in the friendly fire attack, who included a translator for the BBC, were peshmerga fighters.

Zebari said the dead included many of the commanders of Kurdish forces who are battling, with assistance from elite American units, forces loyal to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on the northern front.

Among the seriously wounded in the attack at Dibaga, 20 kilometresmiles) south of Arbil, was Wajih Barzani, 33, the head of KDP special forces and brother of party leader Massoud Barzani.

Hospital sources in Arbil earlier told AFP four Americans were among the dead. BBC correspondent John Simpson, who was travelling with the convoy and suffered minor injuries in the attack, also said he saw American dead.

Zebari, however, said no Americans had been killed but two or three US special forces soldiers were injured.

The US Central Command admitted in a statement that "coalition aircraft may have engaged special operations and friendly Kurdish ground forces approximately 30 miles (50 kilometres) southeast of Mosul".

A subsequent statement from US Central Command headquarters in Qatar said "early casualty reports indicate one civilian may have been killed, (and) one US soldier, one Kurdish soldier and four civilians were injured".

SPACE.WIRE